Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Dear Comic Art Fan,

It's less than two weeks from the opening of the Wolverine movie! In honor of this occasion this month's Sketchbook theme is dedicated to the X-Men's number one fan favorite. If this film is half as good as the trailer looks it'll be incredibly bad ass! Fox is even running a contest to bring the premiere to some lucky fans' hometown. Polls close tomorrow, so get those votes in quick (particularly if you live near Boston...)

I was born in Brazil and moved to the US in 1976. Grew up reading Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. I'm 48, married with three kids, two of them have already moved out. I'm a stay-home kind of guy and love to entertain friends at home but at the same time I love to travel. I also love fast cars and am an avid amateur photographer.

2. Which is your favorite piece in your gallery and why?

My favorite art piece? Wow, that's a tough question. The character Thanos is my very favorite but if I have to pick a favorite piece, I'll have to say the cover to Batman #608 by Lee. Jim is not only a friend but he is, by far, my favorite artist and Batman is also a favorite of mine. Every time I could, I would bug Scott Williams about this cover. Thanks for letting it go Scott.

Look at the background... it's so detailed and Batman's pose is perfect, flying thru the sky of Gotham! Jim and Scott are the best; in my honest opinion they will go down as one of the best artist/inker ever!!

3. How long have you been collecting comic art and what prompted you to start?

I have not collected long. I started collecting art because when I opened a comic book store in 1990, I started to sell my comic book collection, which included every main Marvel title from #1 on plus a Batman #1, Detective #27, All Flash #1 etc... I needed something else to collect and comic art just seemed like the next logical step. So in 1992, I went to Sotheby's and bought the now famous complete interiors of X-Men #1 and X-Force #1.

4. How do you display/store your collection at home?

I have a finished basement where I display about 30 pieces of art, most of them I framed it myself by buying poster boards, frames and UV glass. I frame pieces that I love to look at and not by how much they are. The rest of my art is stored in two vaults somewhere...

5. What are your top five most wanted original pages or commissions?

I need to finish my ultimate goal which is to collect the entire Thanos Quest #1 and 2 (my favorite story of all time). I already have the covers, the inside cover, and 60% of the pages but I'm missing a whole bunch more. I realize that it may be an impossible dream but I think the whole point in collecting is the thrill of the hunt.